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What do smart people do?! (Advice for playing a Lore Supernal character)

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Another spin on the "introduce facts" thing is to go meta; what does introducing a fact do, in-game? It changes the game world. And that's before we get to the weird thing that Wyld-Shaping Technique is a Lore charm...

If your character is more about introducing facts than facts themselves, how about making them focused around reshaping the world? That points to things like geomancy and architecture as a primary focus, functioning as a traveling architect/feng shui expert, who is working on a master plan to reshape Creation through the use of her knowledge.

Although now I think about that, that sounds like an interesting set-up for a long-term Solar villain.

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Introducing a fact is not magical. This is a mundane Int+Lore action; you can do it in a mortal game with no problem. Even many Lore Charms (like Prophet of Seventeen Cycles and Dogstar Ruminations) are fluffed not as "changing the world" but "using your deep insight into the world to realize something that is going to happen." This matters.

Wyld-Shaping Technique as a Lore charm is different, because it is explicitly using your Essence-fueled insight into the world to impose its order on pure chaos. There was a thread about this a few years back where Morke showed up and had very strong devspeak opinions: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...192#post340192

Glorious Solar Kitten

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Comment

Another spin on the "introduce facts" thing is to go meta; what does introducing a fact do, in-game? It changes the game world. And that's before we get to the weird thing that Wyld-Shaping Technique is a Lore charm...

If your character is more about introducing facts than facts themselves, how about making them focused around reshaping the world? That points to things like geomancy and architecture as a primary focus, functioning as a traveling architect/feng shui expert, who is working on a master plan to reshape Creation through the use of her knowledge.

Although now I think about that, that sounds like an interesting set-up for a long-term Solar villain.

That is not how fact introducing is portrayed at all. You're not shaping reality in-setting, you just know those things were always there.

If the structures to fuel your villainous master plan are not already there to begin with, you will have to make them be with something besides lore based fact intro.

You can't come to valley where the story already established there is nothing, and then have your Bad Brain, "introduce a fact" that there is actually another Sword of Creation in there.

So while a player can, with ST approval, help shape the world through fact introduction, there is no character using it to reshape Creation.

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While setting up her own school isn't something I see this character doing, being a private tutor is something I could see. As well as an advisor, now that I think about it.
Seems like I might need to re-evaluate my decision to not take Craft, maybe, since I'm pretty sure Architecture requires at least some measure of Craft.

Lore (Geology/Geography) seems good, yes.

Basically, here's the thing to remember.

Creation is a post Bronze Age world; now what do I mean by that? Well, BETWEEN THE TIME WHEN THE SANDS SWALLOWED SUMER AND BEFORE THE RISE OF THE SONS OF ROMULUS, if you'll let me steal a joke, there was the Bronze Age; a time when mankind first figured out things like writing, industrial agriculture, and bronzeworking; basically, it was a time filled with complex and advanced civilizations that practiced writing, grand-scale economics, architectural wonders not rivaled for more than a millenium after, and advanced, hierarchal societies with castes of highly-trained warriors.

Then, suddenly, in less than two hundred years, all of it disappeared. Poof. The Myceneans were gone, the Hittites went bust, the Assyrians collapsed shortly thereafter, writing all but disappeared in most places, dying out completely in others'; there were places where writing literally ceased to be known by *anyone*,

The systems, both governmental and mechanical (such as, say the advanced irrigation systems the three empires I mentioned used) collapsed, without anyone to maintain them, so lacking in knowledge were they.

The Age of Sorrows is the exact same thing, and likely inspired by it, if you look at the Fair Folk as the sea peoples.

So, a knowledgeable person in a world with a demand is incredibly valuable, but moreso is a creative one; an important thing to keep in mind; in most places, most ideas we take for granted; meritocratic promotion, the water-powered grain mill, the number 0, centralized power, adversarial courts, simply don't exist. So for someone to bring them to a kingdom is incredibly valuable if there's a buyer.

They can teach reading and writing, something that wise individuals will pay vast sums for, especially from a patient teacher.

They *could* run a school, but in most places, only the wealthy could afford to go, or would value such an education. More than likely they'd just seek a private tutor, as was mentioned above. After all, the Romans did the same; Greeks were considered excellent slaves to use as educators.

They could charge exorbitant amounts of money to do architectural work; designing great buildings, like Deadalus did, or by offering to revitalize the ancient irrigation system with their secrets.

They could sell their services as advisors and inventors, like DaVinci or Al-Jazari; if you were his patron, you could expect him to create unforseen things that would revolutionize your ability to plan for meetings, like bird's-eye view maps of a battlefield, or have him design a "horseless chariot" to lead your troops into battle.

You could even call upon such a person to provide a service they've invented themselves; such as knowing the secret of greek fire, and being willing to sell it.

They could offer their services to assuage the worries of kings, as Archimedes did, when he managed to assure a king that his crown was in fact solid gold with the principle of displacement. Maybe he wants to know about his family history, or needs someone to chronicle his deeds. and write the geneaology of his family.

You could be a philosopher, taken on by someone of great power as spiritual and moral advisor, like how Xun Kuang's philosophy of Legalism was adopted by Emperor Qin and his newly formed empire of China.

You could be hired as a soothsayer or astrologer, every king and wealthy merchant would love a peek into the future, and the learned obviously know such things; don't they?

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So, a knowledgeable person in a world with a demand is incredibly valuable, but moreso is a creative one; an important thing to keep in mind; in most places, most ideas we take for granted; meritocratic promotion, the water-powered grain mill, the number 0, centralized power, adversarial courts, simply don't exist. So for someone to bring them to a kingdom is incredibly valuable if there's a buyer.

They can teach reading and writing, something that wise individuals will pay vast sums for, especially from a patient teacher.

They *could* run a school, but in most places, only the wealthy could afford to go, or would value such an education. More than likely they'd just seek a private tutor, as was mentioned above. After all, the Romans did the same; Greeks were considered excellent slaves to use as educators.

They could charge exorbitant amounts of money to do architectural work; designing great buildings, like Deadalus did, or by offering to revitalize the ancient irrigation system with their secrets.

They could sell their services as advisors and inventors, like DaVinci or Al-Jazari; if you were his patron, you could expect him to create unforseen things that would revolutionize your ability to plan for meetings, like bird's-eye view maps of a battlefield, or have him design a "horseless chariot" to lead your troops into battle.

You could even call upon such a person to provide a service they've invented themselves; such as knowing the secret of greek fire, and being willing to sell it.

They could offer their services to assuage the worries of kings, as Archimedes did, when he managed to assure a king that his crown was in fact solid gold with the principle of displacement. Maybe he wants to know about his family history, or needs someone to chronicle his deeds. and write the geneaology of his family.

You could be a philosopher, taken on by someone of great power as spiritual and moral advisor, like how Xun Kuang's philosophy of Legalism was adopted by Emperor Qin and his newly formed empire of China.

You could be hired as a soothsayer or astrologer, every king and wealthy merchant would love a peek into the future, and the learned obviously know such things; don't they?

A shame I can only like this post once. This is really well-written and excellent in both providing suggestions and fuel for the imagination. Thank you so much.
Now, please excuse me, I need to make a Lore Supernal character... or three.

Comment

A shame I can only like this post once. This is really well-written and excellent in both providing suggestions and fuel for the imagination. Thank you so much.
Now, please excuse me, I need to make a Lore Supernal character... or three.

Provided, of course, by a player of a Lore supernal character. I figured I'd do something that came naturally to me. ;p